Weird behavior

JFleur · Nov 13, 2019

Ive been noticing that my fish keep "rubbing" their face and/or bodies on the rocks and back wall.. its like they are trying to scratch an itch.. any ideas on why they do this?
I have 4 fish, a yellow wrasse, a ruby wrasse, flurry clown and a royal gremma.

Crabs McJones · Nov 13, 2019

Usually, when fish are rubbing on stuff its because they have something they're trying to get off such as a parasite. Have you noticed any white bumps on your fish?

JFleur · Nov 13, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Usually, when fish are rubbing on stuff its because they have something they're trying to get off such as a parasite. Have you noticed any white bumps on your fish?

No bumps or discoloration at all. They all seem to be doing it too

JFleur · Nov 13, 2019

I have a skunk cleaner shrimp in there it never seems to clean the fish

Crabs McJones · Nov 13, 2019

Do you have any pics of the fish?

JFleur · Nov 13, 2019

Crabs McJones said:
Do you have any pics of the fish?

No good ones, they move too fast

JFleur · Nov 13, 2019

These are the best i can get... the ruby keeps hiding so i cant get a pic of her

pcon · Nov 13, 2019

The described itching is often the first sign of Flukes, Ich, and velvet. All of these diseases can hide in the gills and present without the obvious bumps/spots. Have you QT'd with prophylactics?
Alternatively sometimes itching on the rocks can also be caused by a large pH swing in a short period of time. This would generally be less chronic and associated with some external event. How long has the itching been going on? is it limited to water changes or the evening as the lights go down and the pH swings from day highes to night lows?

JFleur · Nov 15, 2019

pcon said:
The described itching is often the first sign of Flukes, Ich, and velvet. All of these diseases can hide in the gills and present without the obvious bumps/spots. Have you QT'd with prophylactics?
Alternatively sometimes itching on the rocks can also be caused by a large pH swing in a short period of time. This would generally be less chronic and associated with some external event. How long has the itching been going on? is it limited to water changes or the evening as the lights go down and the pH swings from day highes to night lows?

The gremma has been doing it for a while, that ive noticed anyway. It does only happen when the lights are ramping down for the night. Like right now for instance, they are just doing their normal swim thing, no itching and its mid peak light lvl.